Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
| Wolf in Sheep's Clothing | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Carbon Brick Hydra |
Tamanous Smiling Jack Father Sebastian The Butcher Feral ghouls Blackwing Angels | Deadeye | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
| Stephanie Waltz | Fergus Waltz | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| 24 Blackwing angels, 26 ghouls, Smiling Jack, The Butcher, Father Sebastian | ||||||||||
Background
Deep in the Redmond barrens is a fenced of SINless community called the Lost Lambs. It is run by the church of lost lambs and its militant/gang wing, the Blackwing Angels, who serve as protection for the poor and the needy. On paper they are volunteer partners with Mother of Metahumans (MoM), a charitable pro-metahuman organization that globally operates to help the SINless, oppressed and poor. But in reality the Lost Lambs are a branch of Tamanous, a deplorable criminal syndicate who's main area of business is illegal organ and ware harvesting, especially from the SINless as well as human trafficking and smuggling of metahuman meat to infected communities, including Asamando. They use the guise of a charitable organization to lure in poor, SINless into the community while harvesting them. The influx of SINless is so high, no one really notices a few missing members. Fergus Waltz is such a SINless living in the Lost Lambs. An elderly, poor dwarf widower, with a young son, Jeremy and daughter Stephanie. A few weeks after his son, Jeremy joined the Angels, he disappeared for a week. Worried and suspicious something very wrong is going on he sought out help from anyone that would take pity on him. With no hope he turned to shadowrunners. With no money to pay he hoped to even slave his entire life for free should they take pity on him. Luckily his prayers were answered.
Meet
The meet took place one of the docks in Tacoma. A cold, windy and snowy night. The docks were empty, with not a soul in sight. The runners had mercy on the poor old dwarf and agreed to help him. The meet was interrupted as the runners were ambushed by a hidden sniper who tried to assassinate Fergus and the team. Thus began a game of cat and mouse. The sniper proved capable, deadly and more pain in the ass than the runners initially though. Using grapple guns and RPC cloak to switch positions and staying hidden in the darkness. The runners were eventually able to beat him, with Hydra taking a shot to the gut. The runners decided to not kill Deadeye the sniper after he showed professionalism and promised a favor. But they did put him in a holding cell for now.
Run
The runners proceeded with Fergus to the Lost Lambs. The whole place was fenced off with electrified metal and mono wires. Floodlights were placed to pierce the oppressive dark that surrounded the place. Inside was a sight of utter misery. Rows of dirty tents and garbage bin fires. People in rags, huddling close together in sleeping bags, just so they can endure the cold. Solar showers and plastic curtains were placed as jury rigged baths. There were only 4 permanent buildings: the church run by Father Sebastian (the leader of the community), the soup kitchen which Stephanie ran, the clinic run by the church and the militia barracks for the Blackwing Angels, led by the FLR street sam, Smiling Jack.
The Angels eyed the runners suspiciously but allowed them passage regardless. The team was met by Father Sebastian, who seemed like a genuine person "tending to his flock". Eventually the team meet up with Stephanie who share Fergus's concerns that the Blackwing angels aren't in this for the charity and they are upto something strange. In fact, she kept track of things and she noticed, people went missing from time to time. But as long as the "lamb's" bellies were full and they had a place to crash, the hobos didn't really seem to care. The runners learned that Jeremy was a motivated lad who joined the Blackwings so he too could protect the people. The runners also hit up some hobos for local rumors to which they learned that in the dead of night, when the whole compound is surrounded by darkness, sometimes from the reflected lights of their flashlights they see moving shadows: gnarly, clawed and misshapen, lurking outside the fence.
The runners started their investigation by setting up a meeting with Smiling Jack who allowed them to take a look at Jeremy's motorcycle which was the last evidence found at the site of Jeremy's disappearance. Finding no evidence of conflict or damage. Jack seemed like a straightforward guy, telling things as is, even though he was selling the runners half truth all along, but did so in a convincing way. The runners decided to investigate the site of disappearance, talking to a scavenger to learn what happened. Jeremy met up with Jack, father Sebastian and some Blackwings at the site and then without any resistance, left the motorcycle and went with them, blindfolded. Another ganger took the bike. The runners concluded mind magic maybe involved.
The runners decide to wait for Jack to step out of the compound, taking a vantage point. Unfortunately for them, at night their vantage point was ambushed by feral ghouls during a feeding frenzy. The runners were overwhelmed by 26 rabid ghouls. The runners managed to kill them all but Hydra was infected by one of the ghouls during the fight. Going to a street doc to tend to their wounds, they received a call from Jack who heard the gunfire and ghoul noises. He negotiated a meeting on neutral ground, on behest of the runners. Tired and hurting, the runners went to the meet and Jack, again being straight forward told them he was lying. This caused the runners to drop their guard which was followed up by an elaborate lie. Jack told that the Angels are trying to carve out a part of the Red Hot Nukes territory for themselves, which makes sense since the Lost Lambs community is very close to RHN minefields. Jeremy being a dwarf was the perfect candidate to infiltrate and sabotage the nukes, an all dwarf gang, from within. Jack asked them to promise to keep this secret mission info to themselves so as to not mess up the infiltration. Jack also agreed to set up a meet with the runners and Jeremy at a secret meeting location.
The runners underestimated Jack and walked into the trap. Jack offered them whiskey and showed that "Jeremy" was just a dead RHN random dwarf. He proceeded to monologue about unfortunately having to kill the runners, which was cut short by Brick shooting him. Enraged, Jack hurt them badly by Jack's automatic shotgun fire while the mooks helped with automatic AK fire. Even when the runners had killed Jack they discovered, each of his cyberlimbs had a frag grenade, wired to his heartbeat and when his heart stopped it went Kaboom! The runners barely escaped with their lives as the hideout exploded, killing any gangers inside. Brick and Hydra were unconscious and Carbon was hurting. The runners find a credstick (with considerable nuyen) and a busted commlink on Jack's remains. They took a brief respite at a street doc, seeking urgent medical care all the while Hydra's infection was starting to take effect. The runners got a call that Jack's failed trap had set the compound on red alert. Sebastian had kidnapped Stephanie and during the call, snatched Fergus too. Demoralized by the pain they were in, the runners still pushed through. They used the favor from Deadeye to clear any remaining Blackwings in the compound. The hobos were scared shitless and told them about "the beast" lurking below.
In the clinic, the runners discovered an underground hideout in the abandoned Redmond tunnels. They discovered several abandoned ghoul nests, holding cells and a lab. The lab seemed to be a Tamanous operation. They used the Lost Lambs as a legit charity cover to carry out their operations as well as use the homeless as "Lambs" to package and deliver metahuman flesh to Asamando and keep their infected pets. The runners were ambushed by "the Butcher", a Dzoo-noo-qua adept with a magical cleaver and regenerative powers. But the runners were able to kill it. At the end of the tunnels the runners were faced with a hallway that was most certainly trapped and at the end of it was Sebastian holding Stephanie hostage. She was unconscious in an autodoc vat with one of her kidneys removed. Due to the hostage situation, firing rockets was difficult. The runners decided to let Sebastian go in exchange fro Stephanie who was left behind. The runners rescued Fergus and Jeremy, who was alive but turned into a ghoul. In his rage, Jeremy pursued Sebastian, ignoring the traps and managed to decapitate Sebastian, while getting injured himself. The runners collapse the underground lair with explosives.
Aftermath
The run concludes with Stephanie recovering. Jeremy sees no hope for himself and after staying with the community for some time, slips off one night to become a vigilante, feeding on the wicked. He could no longer live in the Lost Lambs community knowing he could go crazy one day and start eating the innocent. Fergus continued to support the Lost Lambs community alongside his daughter, becoming the new leaders. They renewed their ties with MoM, this time being legitimately a charitable organization. The runners have earned the eternal gratitude of the Waltz family and the Lost Lambs, now that they are free from the grasp of Tamanous. Hydra managed to fight off HMHVV3 infection by burning edge but now she has become a carrier of HMHVV 3 virus and contact with her body fluids can infect others. This is a world where hope is in short supply and this story had a bittersweet ending at best.
Rewards
3/2 legwork contact (Stephanie Waltz), 4/1 Street doc contact (Juhn Slide). If you opt not to take the street doc gain 5 karma instead. 10,000 nuyen. 5 karma -OR- 20,000 nuyen worth of lifestyle reduction. Upto 20 karma (at gen price) of positive qualities from this list: Toughness Tough as Nails P/S Sharpshooter Strive for Perfection Special Modifications 1,2 Common Sense Drug Tolerant
Brick and Hydra gain moderate addiction to Kami, Carbon gained mild. Hydra burned a point of edge to not get infected and gained the negative quality, Carrier (HMHVV 3).
Street doc costs: 8000 Sniper costs: 6000